Native American Vocal Harmony
Music by Alex E. Smith, Cheevers Toppah and Kit Landry
Alex E. Smith, Pawnee/Sauk & Fox was born and raised in Pawnee, Oklahoma and began singing in the Pawnee Indian Baptist Church.
Cheevers Toppah, Kiowa/Navajo was raised in Weatherford, Oklahoma and began formal vocal training in elementary school. Nitanis “Kit” Landry is from Whitefish Lake First Nations, Ontario, Canada whose vocal talents have been featured as a back-up singer for the championship drum group Bear Creek.
I climb out the window of my room at the group home before the sun rise, creepin’ Indian style to the bike rack out back, unlock the Marin, roll south to the Greenway path and head east toward the river to drop my tobacco and listen to the latest Native American Vocal Harmony CD Rain In July. We didn’t get any in July. Rain. But we’re making up for it now that it’s August.
There is lots of tradition behind this singing. Missionaries used to teach children the songs necessary to the celebration of Mass and those pupils took their skills and applied them to traditional vocable melodies and songs of their own making.
The result is something special in the Native musical community. It is at once very expressive and soulful yet, never straying far from the traditional culture that we recognize as home. Their first CD Harmony Nights was very impressive and powerful.
The first track on this CD, Charles “Neka” Logan’s Song, is an honor song to a brother and it establishes the fact that these people can really sing.
The title track of the CD Rain In July starts with the courting flute with the delay on and a thunderstorm sound byte. There is a nice flute break in the middle of the song as the song goes full circle and ends with a wind chime. This song also features the traditional flute playing of Anthony Wakeman (Gunlake Band of Pottawatomi/Oglala Lakota)
The song My Pow-Wow Thing jams and it jams hard. I can hear the drum group ragin’ in the pow wow dream in my head as I slip down the ramp of the Hennepin Avenue Bridge to the River Road. Sliding up into pitch is the oldest vocal trick in the book and it works if you work it. They’re workin’ hard here. This song has greatness to it.
The next track Swirling Smoke features a lead vocal by Louie Gonnie (Dine). Turning the delay on is a vocal methodology that works extremely well for this style. Kudos to Canyon records and their production staff for understanding the spare use of effects and how it can class up the sound and production values of an artist’s work.
In My Heart is another incredibly beautiful love song melody with Nitanis sailing above the foundation of the men’s voices retaining the traditional feel to these songs. There is brilliance here and I would love to hear an interpretation of Dylan, The Beatles or Springsteen. Just an idea.
Could Be Mine is a very beautiful love song written by Kit as they sing, “You’re all I want, you’re all I need, I see you there, just come to me, If you want you could be mine, I’ll be right here, just take your time.” Her lover is interested but hesitant but that’s OK.
The last track on the CD True Melodies is a song sung only in vocables and it speaks to the true nature of the human voice. It is important for the choir to be on the same page with regard to the spirit of the song. In ancient times this song wouldn’t even have a title. It would just be this sound passed down from generation to generation.
There are several important points to remember about rain in July. Generally no matter where you are in NA it’s hot and if it rains it will cool the earth and give her a drink. Although the effect is cooling the actual down pour isn’t so cold that I can’t or won’t ride through it. It’s funny the feelings I have when it starts to come down.
At first, I’m afraid that I’ll be hit by lightning and become the only piece of Indian toast on the street but that quickly turns to wondering if I should stop and seek shelter but that almost as quickly turns to plain wonder. Just plain wonder at the miracle of it all. It rains. Mother earth drinks. The plants grow and blossom making oxygen for the rest of us and feeding the world at the same time and my little fears leave me. It’s all in the creator’s hands. Don’t you know that? Today I ride in the rain as I make myself available to the miracle of life. Today I ride as a member of the human tribe and the falling rain blesses me.
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